NHL 2010-2011 Season Thread

[bjorn_skurj]

How many NHL and NBC executives would start taking cyanide tablets if the finals turned out to be Vancouver vs Montreal???

Zero, because nobody really cares about hockey anyway. A fraction of virtually no viewers is still virtually no viewers. Hell, the novelty of an all-Canadian series might actually boost ratings.

[u2roolz]

The Proper Pronunciation (?)

[Winston Legthigh]

Nuts. This night had so many things go wrong for this Wings fan. First, I forgot that tonight was the first night of our dog training class, so I knew I'd be missing at least the first period. So, class ends and I check the score. Wings are up 3-1. Good! Then I get home only to find out that the game isn't even on! Bad. The Sidney Crosby show is on instead. Bad. I have to wait until the Pittsburgh/Montreal game is over before Versus will switch to the Wings game. The game comes on, but Versus is showing a broadcast with Sharks homer announcers. Bad. Sharks score. 3-2. Announcer goes nuts. Sharks score again. 3-3. Announcer foams at the mouth. Game goes to OT. Sharks win. Announcer's voice goes hoarse screaming GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Fuck. Oh well. I get to see at least one more Wings game, and now - if they win the series, it will be one of the greatest comebacks of all time.

[ih8music]

The game comes on, but Versus is showing a broadcast with Sharks homer announcers. Bad. Sharks score. 3-2. Announcer goes nuts. Sharks score again. 3-3. Announcer foams at the mouth. Game goes to OT. Sharks win. Announcer's voice goes hoarse screaming GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Fuck.

That sounds fantastic, actually? I had to deal with Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond whine about the refs all night on the Center Ice feed...

 

Sharks are up 3-0. Just amazing!

[Smokestack Joe]

Sharks are quieting their critics

[cryptique]

Sharks are quieting their critics

As long as they quiet the Red Wings, I'm happy.

[TCP]

Come on, Wings!!!

[Winston Legthigh]

Come on, Wings!!!

They're out of gas. 65 playoff games in the last 3 years means they've played almost a whole extra season. (Conference finals in 07, Finals in 08 and 09.)

 

Sharks are hungry to shed their image of playoffs disappointments. They are soundly beating the Wings in all facets of the game.

[W(TF)]

Wings are burnt.

 

I don't think the Habs have another win left in them either. Halak keeps them in it, but the Pens seem to have found their juju. I thought this would be a better series (fights don't count, I mean actual hockey)...

[D-Dogg]

Wings are burnt.

 

I don't think the Habs have another win left in them either. Halak keeps them in it, but the Pens seem to have found their juju. I thought this would be a better series (fights don't count, I mean actual hockey)...

 

 

I thought so also, until tonight's 7-1 win.

 

Still a mountain to climb. A mountain so high I believe only two teams have reached the summit.

[W(TF)]

Yeah, amazing. Eating my words here, on both predictions!

[Winston Legthigh]

Nice showing by the Wings last night. I laughed when Thornton tried to play tough guy at the end. Really dude - a horse collar yank down of Nicklas Lidstrom?

 

I get at least one more Wings game. Last night might have been the last game played at Joe Louis Arena.

[Ottawateeth]

They're out of gas. 65 playoff games in the last 3 years means they've played almost a whole extra season. (Conference finals in 07, Finals in 08 and 09.)

 

Sharks are hungry to shed their image of playoffs disappointments. They are soundly beating the Wings in all facets of the game.

 

 

Glen Healey (from Hockey night in Canada) keeps mentioning this too (the whole "a bunch of extra games theory")...I don't buy it! they're pro athletes and are amongst the fittest people in pro sports. I think it's just because the other teams in the west are now better than they are. simple as that.

[Winston Legthigh]

Glen Healey (from Hockey night in Canada) keeps mentioning this too (the whole "a bunch of extra games theory")...I don't buy it! they're pro athletes and are amongst the fittest people in pro sports. I think it's just because the other teams in the west are now better than they are. simple as that.

It's not as if they're just sitting on their spin cycles and working out for 3 hours every time they play.

They're dealing with continually getting beat up every time they play - it has nothing to do with being in top shape. It's more than just working out - it's taking a beating night in night out.

 

If it were a fitness issue, shouldn't rookies be able to run laps around the veterans? They don't - they typically run out of gas towards the end of the season because they're not used to the long season, and getting steamrolled by big fast players.

[D-Dogg]

Glen Healey (from Hockey night in Canada) keeps mentioning this too (the whole "a bunch of extra games theory")...I don't buy it! they're pro athletes and are amongst the fittest people in pro sports. I think it's just because the other teams in the west are now better than they are. simple as that.

 

I agree with you here. As much as it hurts me. However I believe that when the Wings are in their top form they cannot be beat. Which brings me to the other quote.

 

It's not as if they're just sitting on their spin cycles and working out for 3 hours every time they play.

They're dealing with continually getting beat up every time they play - it has nothing to do with being in top shape. It's more than just working out - it's taking a beating night in night out.

 

If it were a fitness issue, shouldn't rookies be able to run laps around the veterans? They don't - they typically run out of gas towards the end of the season because they're not used to the long season, and getting steamrolled by big fast players.

 

I think this theory is valid. However you add this theory into the whole mix of what makes a team good or bad and when looking at the Wings you have to realize that the Wings are just not the better team this year. If they cannot keep up with the other teams due to past successful seasons than they are not the better team this year.

 

With all that, go Wings and lets hope for three in a row!!!

[Lynch]

Winnipeg's own Jonathan Toews with a HAT-TRICK!!!! Go Hawks!

 

And, wow do these teams hate each other, haha.

[TCP]

You guys know that I'm a huge Canucks homer. But...

Fuck you, Luongo. :realmad :realmad :realmad :realmad :realmad :realmad :realmad

 

Well at least I can look forward to shaving this beard.

[Winston Legthigh]

However you add this theory into the whole mix of what makes a team good or bad and when looking at the Wings you have to realize that the Wings are just not the better team this year. If they cannot keep up with the other teams due to past successful seasons than they are not the better team this year.

 

With all that, go Wings and lets hope for three in a row!!!

I'll realize the Wings are not the better team when they're eliminated from the playoffs.

[D-Dogg]

I'll realize the Wings are not the better team when they're eliminated from the playoffs.

 

 

Makes sense.

[TCP]

I have to vent.

 

The Blackhawks represent everything that is wrong in the NHL these days. Teams like Vancouver, Calgary, Detroit, New York Rangers, etc have fan bases that demand accountability. They're expected to be competitive every single year. These teams can't take a few seasons of being lame-duck franchises at the bottom of the standings, the fans would riot, the media would be up in arms. However, teams with markets that either...

A] don't care about hockey

B] care about hockey a little bit but also have baseball, football, and basketball teams

...are able to tank for multiple years, trade away all their players for draft picks at the deadline, and spend just to the cap floor so they can purposely ensure they won't be a competitive team!! And how exactly do these teams manage to stay afloat when everyone in their city has forgotten about them? Of course! They get hand outs from the more succsesful teams. Edmonton got the first overall pick this year but no one was expecting it, and you know that absolutely won't fly in Edmonton for another year.

All these teams like LA, Chicago, Washington, Phoenix, don't deserve the success they're getting, and neither do their bandwagon fans. And of course, Pittsburgh is the best example of this bullshit.

Failure should never be rewarded, especially in sports.

[Edie]

I have to tell you, you have no idea what you are talking about with regards to the Blackhawks. I have been a fan of theirs for many many years -- since I could read newspapers and watch games on TV in mid '60s. Their ownership (Bill Wirtz) was easily the worst owner for the fans in sports -- but a great owners owner because he was profit minded.

 

He refused to telecast home games, even when games were sold out, which they nearly always were, because he thought that people would stop going to games, continuing this evil tradition many years after this theory was disproved.

 

He built then destroyed many great teams with great players like Hull and Wilson because he refused to pay them what they were worth.

 

He cared more for how much booze he could sell at the games (since he had a distributorship in Chicago) than he did whether or not the team won. Most fans came and went as the success of the team came and went -- Bill was not going to change shit based on what fans thought, like the Tribune with the Cubs.

 

He never ever deviated from this formula. As he grew older, he became even more entrenched and the team suffered, and they had poor management, and people stopped caring much about them. They sucked and people yawned. Hockey suffered in Chicago even though Chicago is a great hockey town. While the Chicago Wolves did provide a few sparks, they aren't in the bigs.

 

Finally, Bill died, and his son Rocky and the other Wirtz kids were finally able to take over the team. Things have changed significantly for the better, as they are running the team the way it should be -- as a business, sure, but also they want to win. They are restoring hockey in Chicago to the huge success it enjoyed here back when Hull and Mikita were prowling the ice.

 

A pic from the last time the hawks won the cup -- '61 if I recall -- almost 50 years ago.

 

[Winston Legthigh]

He refused to telecast home games, even when games were sold out, which they nearly always were, because he thought that people would stop going to games, continuing this evil tradition many years after this theory was disproved.

 

You don't have to go back that far to see that the Hawks attendance was amongst the worst in the league:

2001: Rank: 24 of 30. Avg: 14,996

2002: Rank: 23 of 30. Avg: 15,568

2003: Rank: 24 of 30. Avg: 14,794

2004: Rank: 27 of 30. Avg: 13,253

2006: Rank: 29 of 30. Avg: 13,318

2007: Rank: 29 of 30. Avg: 12,727

2008: Rank: 19 of 30. Avg: 16,814

2009: Rank: 1 of 30. Avg: 22,247

 

Coincidentally, they only qualified for the playoffs once during that stretch, in 2002. So, you can't really say that the fans were always there for the team, nor can it be said that games were nearly always sellouts. Far from it.

 

I think the Cowboy Poet is saying that their team of today was built with the high draft picks they received from being dogs for such a long stretch. Players like Seabrook, Kane, and Toews were all high first round selections during that period. In 2004 alone, they had 6 of the first 68 picks, including 4 picks in the 2nd round alone.

[Edie]

You are mainly talking about the last 10 years, with which I would readily agree with your point. I am mainly talking about the last 40 years, when sellouts were far more common. Also, draft picks are what you make of them. You have to know who to pick. They have picked more than their fair share of dogs over the years with those high draft picks. When the management improved (Dale Tallon especially), their draft picks improved as well.

 

I hate watching sports played badly by the teams I love. Frankly, why would I waste my time? Does that make me less of a fan? It definitely makes me a more judicious one.

[TCP]

I know the owner for the Blackhawks was terrible but that'd never fly in Vancouver. Maybe in the 70s but not today. The way I see it, in Chicago the Hawks are the fifth most important team. You guys have TWO baseball teams, NFL, and NBA teams. In BC, we have the Canucks. They tried giving us an NBA team but no one cared (well, and the NBA royally fucked up that situation...). We'll watch the Lions in the summer but even then, if you listen to sports talk radio, it's still 75% Canucks, even in August.

I know the Canucks did suck for a long time, but the fan base hadn't been grown yet (in 1970, if you were a Canadian hockey fan, you were either a Leafs of Habs fan). Plus this was before the draft worked the way it does.

Every team has off years, but Chicago sucked for a very long time and they used that to get good. All I'm saying is, that's not fair. That's not how hockey teams should be made. Especially when the most popular markets can't do that (look at the Leafs, they're doing whatever they can to speed up this rebuild). The Hawks got handouts from the Canucks, Flames, Rangers, etc for years, they used those hand outs to stay afloat and draft players like Toews and Kane to get immediate success.

That's why I have so much respect for the Wings. That's why they've been a power for decades and will continue to be for years to come.

The Hawks are a hell of a team, I just wish they could have put that team together in a better way.

Regardless, when (if) the Canucks win the cup it will feel so much better.

[Edie]

Tell me exactly how you fire an owner. By not going to games or supporting them? The owner can usually petition for and win the chance to move the team. The major leagues do not like weak franchises. Yes the Hawks are the "5th team" in Chicago; I am saying it was not always that way -- not by a long shot. The Bulls were basically nowhere until Jordan (except for a few years in the early 70s), and the White Sox almost moved to FL in the late 70s (I think).

 

Any team that has sucked as long as the Hawks did was not doing the right things with their picks. You can have all the best slots, but if you choose lousy players they are worthless. Rebuilding a team via draft picks is far more respectable than rebuilding via trades and free agency, if you ask me. Anyone can raise money or make deals; but scouting talent and picking and then developing that talent -- that is much harder.

 

So I guess my point is that the Hawks do deserve to win and be good. We have suffered here long enough.